| Contact is a ubiquitous means by which bodies interact mechanically with each other. Dedicated to the study of the dynamic response of bodies in contact and to the mathematical description of the contact phenomenon, contact dynamics modeling has been and remains an intensive area of research with numerous applications in the engineering practice, such as mechanism analysis and design, aerospace engineering, robotics, bioengineering, sports, computer engineering and material engineering. However, contact dynamics behavior is not easy to model because of the complex dependencies on the properties of the contacting bodies, including the geometry of contact and kinematic configuration, the inertia and material properties, the contact surfaces properties and many other system parameters.;In the classical rigid body impact analysis, we propose an integral formulation as an extension of the earlier work by Keller, with the goal of overcoming several deficiencies of Keller's formulation. On the topic of compliant contact force modeling, we investigate the accuracy of Hunt-Crossley type of nonlinear models and propose an energy-consistent model which is "exact" within the general assumptions of the Hunt-Crossley modeling approach. Then, an experimental study of the sphere-plate impact is conducted using two experimental set-ups for different impact speeds to assess the validity of the Hunt-Crossley modeling in both elastic and plastic impact categories. This study represents the first documented attempt at the validation of this model, and also produced a database of new impact measurements.;Finally, a novel contact dynamics formulation is developed for non-colliding contact scenarios where two or more rigid bodies are in a continuous contact at multiple contact locations. The proposed formulation features a closed-form solution for the normal contact forces for general contact geometries and also allows loss of contact. Uniqueness and existence analyses are also conducted using the amenable mathematical structure provided by the formulation.;This thesis is devoted to the investigation of rigid body contact dynamics modeling and aims to contribute to a better understanding and appreciation of the contact phenomena. The research work in this thesis deals with three topics: classical rigid body impact analysis, compliant contact force modeling and non-colliding rigid body contact formulation, the three in parallel serving to fulfill the thesis objectives. |
